The problems of corrosion and scale formation and the attendant effects have troubled water systems for years. For instance, scale tends to accumulate on internal walls of various water systems, such as boiler and cooling systems, and thereby materially lessen the operational efficiency of the system.
Deposits in lines, heat exchange equipment, etc., may originate from several causes. For example, precipitation of calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate and calcium phosphate in the water system leads to an accumulation of these scale-imparting compounds along or around the metals surfaces that contact the flowing water circulating through the system. In this manner, heat transfer functions of the particular system are severely impeded.
Corrosion, on the other hand, is a degradative electro-chemical reaction of a metal with its environment. Simply stated, it is the reversion of refined metals to their natural state. For example, iron ore is iron oxide. Iron ore is refined into steel. When steel corrodes, it forms iron oxide, which, if unattended, may result in failure or destruction of the metal, causing the particular water system to shut down until the necessary repairs can be made.
Typically, in cooling water systems, the formation of calcium sulfate, calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate, among others, has proven deleterious to the overall efficiency of the cooling water system. The recent trend in cooling treatments is utilizing of high levels of orthophosphate to promote passivation of the metal surfaces in contact with the system water. Thus, it has become critically important to control calcium phosphate crystallization so that relatively high levels of orthophosphate may be maintained in the system to achieve the desired passivation without resulting in fouling or impeded heat transfer functions that would normally be caused by calcium phosphate deposition.
Although steam-generating systems are somewhat different from cooling systems, they share a common problem in regard to deposit formation.
As detailed in the Betz Handbook of Industrial Water Conditioning, 8th Edition, 1980, Betz Laboratories Inc., Trevose, Pa, Pages 85–96, the formation of scale and sludge deposits on boiler heating surfaces is a serious problem encountered in steam generation. Although current industrial steam producing systems make use of sophisticated external treatments of the boiler feed water, e.g., coagulation, filtration, softening of water prior to its feed into the boiler system, these operations are only moderately effective. In all cases, external treatment itself does not provide adequate treatment since muds, sludge and hardness-imparting ions escape the treatment, and eventually are introduced into the steam generating system.
In addition to the problems caused by mud, sludge or silt, the industry has also had to contend with boiler scale. Although external treatment is utilized specifically in an attempt to remove calcium and magnesium from the feed water, scale formation due to residual hardness, i.e., calcium and magnesium salts, is always experienced. Accordingly, internal treatment, i.e., treatment of the water fed to the system, is necessary to prevent, reduce and/or retard formation of scale imparting compounds and their resultant deposition. The carbonates of magnesium and calcium are not the only problem compounds as regards to scale, but also waters having high contents of phosphate, sulfate and silicate ions either occurring naturally or added for other purposes cause problems since calcium and magnesium, and any iron or copper present, react and deposit as boiler scale. As is obvious, the deposition of scale on the structural parts of a steam generating system causes poorer circulation and lower heat transfer capacity, resulting in an overall loss in efficiency.